Philosophy, science and social commentary posts by a 21-year old university student. :3

Social Commentary

Now as this is my first post, I figured I’d go ahead and start out with a defeating argument against same-sex marriage opponents. Of course, I think they’re wrong on several respects, from erroneous and incoherent claims that homosexuals and bisexuals can choose what their sexual attraction is to spurious claims to the inherent inferiority of their ability to parent when compared to heterosexual couples, but I’m here to provide what I think is a decisive case on this issue in support of marriage equality.

So, a claim I hear often amounts to something along the lines of marriage being a religious issue, so the government shouldn’t be involved in trying to force people to go against their religious beliefs. Now, aside from the obvious comparison to the opposition to the allowance of interracial marriage (of which I’m a product, by he way), an interesting dilemma begins to surface for people who oppose marriage equality on religious grounds. Firstly, is it REALLY the case that marriage is an essentially religious act? Now this bit is largely based on my own experience, but most of the time people get married because see it as a demonstration of their love of their partner and their intention to commit to that person. No doubt religious views have something to do with it for some, but it seems to me obvious that the reason people see marriage as a natural thing to do for those they love is because we’re culturally reinforced to believe that is what is to be done, in both the media and in our personal lives, not because we believe that it’s a religious duty. After all, is it not clearly the case that most people who describe themselves as religious do not live their lives wthe way more religion-focused people think they should? If that is the case, why would they fulfill a LIFELONG religious duty when they don’t take relign too seriously?

However, let’s leave that minor objection aside. Let’s take a look at at the approximate level of religiosity of homosexual, bisexual and transgendered peoples,

So as we can see, these groups are nearly evenly split on their religious views, with about 51% of them having religious views and 48% not having religious views. So it seems to be justifiable to say that those polled who are or intend to marry, and hold religious views, believe that they are religiously allowed to get married, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing this (and this is not generally the sort of thing that you can commit merely in a moment of weakness to explain away, like say, an affair). So in a strange but expected hypocrisy, in this case,those who lean conservative on this issue are in fact violating the religious rights of these groups! Why should your religious beliefs regarding marriage trump those held by the religious amongst the LGBT[insert future group letters added here] community? You are in no way being harmed, unlike in cases, of, say, parents who try to pray away sickness in their children, whom subsequently end up dying because their parents refused medical care. And if you’re going to try and go Biblical on this and claim it can be legally decided that this is the way to go, it should be clear that this would be in violation of the First Amendemnt’s Establisment Clause. You’d then be trying to get the government to settle legal issues by appeal to religious doctrines that you hold, but they reject.
So the dilemma, in case it isn’t clear, is that those leaning conservative on the issues of marriage equality must either commit to allowing the Government to settle religious and theological battles as a matter of law or else refrain from demonstrably trying to violate the religious rights of those in the LGBT community. If it’s the former, I cannot wait for the massive legal battles between Protestants and Catholics on various parts of doctrinal disagreements. If it’s the latter, well, I’ve already noted the blatant hypocrisy.

Anyway, those are my quick thoughts on the issue. Leave me some criticism below in the comments if you find fault with my argument or if you think it can be sharpened. Thanks. 🙂